Couldn't Wait Another Day
by shana852963
Summary: After an accident on an Auror mission lands Harry in St. Mungo's, both him and Ginny make a spur-of-the-moment decision that will change their lives.


"One bloody scar wasn't enough for you, was it?" Ginny huffed as she paced back and forth in front of Harry's hospital bed at St. Mungo's. "You had to go and get a dozen more?"

"I don't think it's quite a dozen," Harry muttered groggily, glancing down at his heavily bandaged chest, where marks from the Cruciatus Curse were still visible. He had just gotten back from an Auror mission from which, even he had to admit, he was lucky to be alive.

"Don't you start," Ginny warned. She pursed her lips angrily. "Didn't they send enough Aurors on this mission? Why were you alone against three other wizards?"

"I had backup, Gin, but things got chaotic," Harry explained. "It happens."

"I _know_," Ginny snapped. "But it shouldn't! You've only been in the field for three years! Why are you allowed to go off on such high-risk missions? Shouldn't this be something left to the more senior Aurors? Or I suppose you went and _asked _to be put on this mission, did you?"

"I-I didn't _ask_," Harry said carefully. "But they came to me and-"

"You just couldn't turn down the chance," Ginny finished.

"It's not that," Harry said quickly. "But these wizards were doing really awful things, Ginny. I-I couldn't just sit by and _not _try to stop them. And we _did _stop them! That's what we should be focusing on! I'm fine and they'll-"

"You are not fine!" Ginny snapped, her face nearly the same color as her hair. "I wouldn't have gotten an owl from the Ministry at three in the morning telling my you were rushed into St. Mungo's if you were _fine_. Don't you know how terrifying that was for me? They wouldn't even tell me if you were alive for over four hours! And then it took you two days to wake up!"

Harry struggled to pull himself into a sitting position. "Gin-I'm sorry, I-I didn't think about that."

"Lay back down," Ginny said, her voice softening.

"Then come lay with me," Harry told her.

Ginny stepped over to his bed and carefully lay down next to him, letting him put one arm around her clumsily.

"I'm sorry," Harry said again. "For making you worry."

"You've been making me worry for years," Ginny said, giving him a faint smile. "And…don't be sorry. I know you've got to go and fight. Merlin knows you'd drive yourself mad if you couldn't. I just…I just kept thinking, when you weren't waking up…what if-what if you-you know…I kept getting flashbacks of seeing you in Hagrid's arms during the war. It broke my heart back then to see you like that, but it felt about a thousand times worse this time. I suppose that's what three extra years of being together did; it made me love you even more."

"I know what you mean," Harry told her. "You were the last thing I was thinking about before I passed out. I was so scared I wasn't going to make it to see you again."

He reached down to her hand, where a sparkling diamond ring was placed on her finger. "I kept worrying we wouldn't get the chance to be married."

Ginny turned to him and kissed his temple. "Me too. Don't know if I can stand to wait two more months."

The couple lay silently for a moment in each other's arms.

"We don't have to wait, you know," Harry said finally.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked. "That's when the wedding date is. We can't move it up now."

"All we need to be married is a form signed at the Ministry," Harry said. "We can go down there the second I'm out of the hospital."

"Mum would put the both of us back in here if she found out we did that," Ginny chuckled. "You know how much work she's put into planning out wedding."

"But what if we didn't tell her we did it?" Harry said slowly.

"Okay, now you've lost me," Ginny said.

"I mean we can go and get married and it will be just our secret," Harry said. "We don't even have to tell Ron and Hermione. We'll still have our wedding ceremony in two months, but in the meantime, that's two extra months we'll get to have."

Ginny looked into his eyes. "You're serious?"

"Course I am," Harry nodded.

Ginny looked thoughtful. "Alright then. Let's do it. The second you get out of here, let's get married."

"Yeah?" Harry grinned.

"Yeah," Ginny smiled, pressing a kiss to his lips. "I can't stand to wait any longer."

* * *

Three days later, Ginny and Harry stepped out of a small office at the Ministry of Magic, both beaming as they stared down at the slip of parchment in Ginny's hands.

"It's quite official," Ginny commented, squeezing Harry's hand. "This certificate legally binds Mr. Harry James Potter and Ginerva Molly Weasley together in marriage."

"Not very romantically written, is it?" Harry commented.

"Nope," Ginny agreed. She looked up at Harry. "Feel any different?"

"No, but I think you've gotten about ten times more beautiful since we've been married," Harry pointed out.

"In a whole four minutes?" Ginny laughed. "Didn't know marriage could have that effect."

"Harry! Ginny!"

The couple spun around to see Hermione coming towards them. Ginny quickly stashed the marriage certificate in her bag. "Hello, Hermione."

"I didn't know you were coming by, Ginny," Hermione smiled.

"Oh yes, thought I'd surprise Harry for lunch," Ginny nodded.

"Are you going to the Leaky Cauldron?" Hermione asked. "Ron and I were going to meet there in a little bit. Do you want to join us?"

"Oh, um, we thought we'd go to our flat and eat," Harry said. "In fact…I don't have anything but paperwork to do today. Think I'll just spend the rest of the day there."

"That paperwork needs to be finished!" Hermione pointed out. "It's important."

"I know, I'll come in early tomorrow morning to get it done," Harry promised.

"Don't plan on coming in too early," Ginny muttered under her breath.


End file.
